Ignite Phoenix, Austenland Review, and General Austenness

Today’s post is on all things Jane Austen. First, my Ignite Phoenix presentation, second, a bunch of Jane Austen pages I added to my website, and third, an Austenland review.

Ignite Phoenix

Friday, October 18th, I’m presenting at Ignite Phoenix on Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen and the Art of Argument. There are presentations on everything from race car driving to NASA launches to hitchhiking–it’ll be a few hours of action-packed, 5-minute presentations. If you weren’t able to get tickets (or don’t live in Phoenix) you can watch the livestream (details here). It starts at 6:30 p.m. in Arizona (same time as California, for the moment).

Have I mentioned that I’m excited? Or that I made amazing bookmarks to hand out at the After Party?

New Website Section: Jane Austenness

I went a little crazy and decided to create a bunch of new pages for my website, all about Jane Austen love. You know you want to read them:

Austenland Review

Have you ever wished you could just step in one of your favorite books and live there for a while? That’s the premise of Austenland–a thirty something single woman decides to spend her whole savings to go to an Austen theme park, where she gets to dress and act like a Jane Austen character for a several week period. This is a hilarious film on love, literature, and finding happiness wherever you are. I could not stop laughing, and I really want to see this movie again soon.

Anyone who likes Jane Austen loves this movie. To my family: I want a DVD copy as soon as it comes out–it would make a great gift, hint, hint.

Austenland was an independent film, made on a small budget (though you can’t tell from the film itself) and after premiering at Sundance Film Festival it was picked up by Sony. As such, it’s had a limited theatrical release, but it’s still playing in theaters across the US, and if you like Jane Austen, it’s worth a 20 or 30 minute drive to see. Google Austenland for showtimes near you or visit this website.